Wall and Ceiling Papering

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April, 1883.]

THE DECORATOR AND FURNISHER.

19

lace-work in stone of the flamboyant period, and
for the glass-painter the frames in which he will
trace paintings of perfect finish and execution, but
without effect at a distance and without decorative
effect. The artists of the sixteenth century con-
tinue ih the same path with even greater per-
fection in drawing and material execution. But
soon religious works become rarer as faith becomes
less lively, and the artists begin to abandon the
churches and to seek the service of the great,
whose edifices they adorn. In Pinaigrier, Jean
Cousin and Bernard Palissy
glass-painting finds its last
great artists. A few years
later the art has fallen
into complete decadence ;
architecture has gone to
seek inspiration at Rome
and Athens ; the reign of
color is over, and the few
glass- painters who survive
content themselves with
painting arms and heraldic
designs on the windows
of the grand seigneurs.
Then finally the belief

rdle and in its means. It has no relation, no
analogy with imitative painting, which is mobile
in its nature, and which lends itself to the most
diverse expressions of the talent and the imagina-
tion of the artist. Between a painted window
and a picture there is a great gulf. The picture
is destined to be placed near the eye of the spec-
tator, whereas the painted window is intended to
be seen from a greater or less distance. In a
picture the interest ought to be almost entirely
concentrated on one point, a result which the

He has made real glass windows, vitraux, formed
of a multitude of fragments of colored and painted
glass united together in a lead panel, the compart-
ments of wljich are taken advantage of to accent-
uate the outline, according to the traditions of the
artist of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. His
windows are consequently not simply pictures on
glass ; they are an element in a whole system of
decoration. The general effect of the theatre is
certainly very fine, and such complete success
the critics need not spare their praise.

In contrast with this
monumental glass paint-
ing may be placed a pic-
ture on glass in four
compartments executed
by Mr. Champigneutte
for a winter garden or
conservatory. The model
is taken from a Japanese
kakemono representing an
almond tree by the side
of a river with birds,
fishes, etc. But this is
simply a very beautiful
transparent picture on

was spread that glass-painting was a lost art.

A fine example of the glass-work of the
fifteenth century may be seen in the window of
the Sybil of Samos, from the Church of St. Ouen
at Rouen. A comparison with the work of the
thirteenth century will show the progress made in
the picturesque sense. As for the work of the
sixteenth century, it differs only in transparency
from the work of the fresco-painter and the
painter on canvas. Drawing, modeling, perspec-
tive, composition, color, everything is there. It is
a perfect picture on glass, an independent, artistic
manifestation, and not a decorative element.

From the seventeenth century until the early
part of the present century glass-painting remained
practically a lost art. How it was gradually
revived in France and England I need not relate
here.

From an examination of the glass-work of the
middle ages in the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth,
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and from a con-
sideration of the nature and limitations of the
materials to be disposed of, we are able to arrive
at certain conclusions and principles by which the
artist and the critic may be guided. We find that
painted glass windows form a very important ele-
ment of decoration. In principle the painted
window ought to be firmly and frankly colored
and without broken tones. Its coloration ought to
produce, by the particular conditions in which it
is established, a calm yet vigorous and brilliant
effect, which does not fatigue the attention but
attracts the eye gently, while not distracting it
from the general impression it receives from the
ensemble of the lines of the construction.

The historical or simply ornamental window
must be in perfect harmony with the architectural
character of the edifice which it is destined to
decorate. Its essential means, color, ought to be
applied according to the conditions of style of the
construction. Furthermore, like tapestry and all
the systems of decorative painting which enter
into the ornamentation of an edifice, the painted
window demands sober execution, exclusive of light
and shade and even of perfect modeling, which
aims at a vigorous imitation of reality. These
grand arts of monumental decoration are based
upon a convention which satisfies the eye without
the eye being bound to comprehend the reason
why. A modern authority on the matter, Mr.
Didron, reporter of the International Jury of the
Exhibition of 1878, has recently confirmed this
remark. "Mural painting," he says, "whether
fresco or enamel mosaic, tapestry and painted
glass, ought all to obey this law, which scarcely
admits the resources of perspective except in very
special cases, and all too marked tendencies to in-
fringe this law divert decorative painting from its
true mission." This is peculiarly true in the case
of painted glass, by reason of the exceptional
value given to all its constitutive elements by its
transparency.' ^ No art is really more special in its

artist obtains by the artifices of composition and
of light and shade, and often by the introduction
of large empty spaces. A piece of painted glass,
like a piece of tapestry, requires on the contrary
to be filled all over with the details of the compo-
sition. Indeed, a rigorously decorative window,
like that of the Eden Theatre, of which the upper
fan is figured in the cut,- might be assimilated to a

transparent Eastern carpet, just as many of the
mediaeval windows might be compared to trans-
parent Flemish tapestries. The principles of deco-
ration are the same in all these cases.

In the design and execution of his windows Mr.
Champigneulle has carried out these principles.

white glass, perfect in drawing and color and
with the great disadvantage of being singularly
fragile. This Japanese fancy is destined to form an
amusing luminous closing for a window, whereas
the windows of the Eden Theatre are destined
to decorate those openings by means of a trans-
parent material of varied tones supported by a com-
plete system of decoration.

WALL AND CEILING PAPERING.

Fit an k RoTinvEix, in The Plumber and Decorator.

Flock papers require to be close edged on
both sides, the paper being put on with very
strong paste and the joints butted. Sometimes
after the "flocks" are fixed and dry the paper
will contract, and at each joining there may be
a very fine line of white. This is the lining paper
underneath which shows in consequence of the
flock contracting in the drying process. In such
a case it is only necessary to take a fitch and run
down the places that show white with a size
color of the same tone as the paper itself. Flock
papers are now much used for ceilings ; in some
cases they are afterwards painted.

Ceilings, as a rule, require very long lengths
of paper. There are several methods of working
these long lengths, but to my thinking the best
is the two handed plan, viz., the paperhanger
and his lad work off a plank, which is supported
by two step-ladders. After the length of paper is
undoubled at one end, and while the lad is hold-
ing up the other end across a short end or roll of
paper close to the ceiling, the paperhanger fixes
his end, and then travels with his brush along
the length till he gets to the bottom double, this
is then opened and fixed in the same manner.
Then while the w r orkman is brushing out creases
and air blisters, and trimming the ends the lad is
busy pasting another length. If a length cuts the
chandelier or a centre flower where it joins the
ceiling, above ten or twelve inches it is generally
advisable to divide the paper across and put the
length on in two pieces.

Marble papers for walls are' chiefly of the
sienna class. Some of these are lined into blocks
and others are left plain, the lines being run in
after the paper is fixed. When a paper is lined
great care has to be exercised to keep the lines
of the blocks true. For this purpose a spirit-level
is necessary to test the accuracy of the lines. It
is a bad plan to commence in the hall or lobby
with half a block. But few men would be fool-
ish enough to do this. As a rule, though in
some parts of the kingdom, paperhangers start
at the top of a wall with a whole block, and very
often they arrive at the floor with half a block.
A paperhanger should work on the same principle
as a builder. Tand" start at the bottom with a
whole block in place of a half one.